. esoteric buddhist art in china, – 499
Esoteric Buddhist Art under the Northern and Southern
Song Dynasties
Esoteric Buddhism was vital in many provinces of the Song empire,
though it was a bifurcated and nonheterogenous tradition without a
firm center. From early on in the dynasty, it appears that no orthodox
transmission of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism had survived the Tang.
What did survive were scattered vestiges of ritual practices and related
modes of belief. In terms of Esoteric Buddhist art, some remnants from
the Tang had survived but these were for the most part divorced from
an Esoteric Buddhist context. The close connection between Esoteric
Buddhist ritual practice, iconography, and belief no longer existed as
there was no longer anyone to provide instructions.
In conjunction with the appearance of a handful of Indian ācāryas
at the Northern Song court in Kaifeng during the late tenth century,
Esoteric Buddhism was given a boost.^1 Yet despite the rather concerted
and massive textual influence that developed due to the activities of
these new missionary-translators, it does not appear that much ritual
paraphernalia, including votive paintings and statues, was produced
at that time.^2
A number of high-quality bronzes from the Northern Song depict-
ing the thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara have survived, most of which
are in private and museum collections in Europe and the U.S. Due
to cultural and geographical proximity as well as a shared style, it is
sometimes difficult to distinguish these images from similar pieces
made under the Liao. However, it remains a fact that very few con-
crete examples have survived. Among the few extant paintings from
the Song featuring Esoteric Buddhist themes, mention can be made
of the celebrated Ninna-ji depiction of the vidyārājñī Mahāmāyūrī^3
and the printed Mahāpratiṣarā-dhāraṇī from Dunhuang, which is
undoubtedly representative of a standard iconographical template for
this divinity.^4
(^1) For this development, see Orzech, “Translation of Tantras and other Esoteric
Buddhist Scriptures,” in this volume.
(^2) One of the few descriptions of esoteric temple art and statuary appears in Jōjin’s
diary of his visit to the capital in 1072–1073. He describes not only temples with
images of Trailokyavijaya but also images in a temple on the palace grounds that were
apparently based on the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa ( ,
T. 1191). See 3 San Tendai Godai san ki, 137a, and the discussion in Orzech 2006a, 152.
See Cahill 1972, 50–52.
(^4) Cf. Whitfield and Farrer 1990, 106–107.